[The opening poem of Poland/1931 has been translated into a number of languages, some of which I’ve been able to read or perform in during various travels. The availability of Poems and Poetics gives me a chance to bring a few of these translations together — in the present instance, from Spanish, from French, from German, and most particularly from Yiddish. Others — from Polish, Swedish, Chinese, and Dutch — may follow in the near future. Performances in English and Yiddish can be found on PennSound. (J.R.)]

POLAND/1931“The Wedding”

my mind is stuffed with tablecloths & with rings but my mind is dreaming of poland stuffed with poland brought in the imagination to a black wedding a naked bridegroom hovering above his naked bride mad poland how terrible thy jews at weddings thy synagogues with camphor smells & almonds thy thermos bottles thy electric fogs thy braided armpits thy underwear alive with roots o poland poland poland poland poland poland how thy bells wrapped in their flowers toll how they do offer up their tongues to kiss the moon old moon old mother stuck in thy sky thyself an old bell with no tongue a lost udder o poland thy beer is ever made of rotting bread thy silks are linens merely thy tradesmen dance at weddings where fanatic grooms still dream of bridesmaids still are screaming past their red moustaches poland we have lain awake in thy soft arms forever thy feathers have been balm to us thy pillows capture us like sickly wombs & guard us let us sail through thy fierce weddings poland let us tread thy markets where thy sausages grow ripe & full let us bite thy peppercorns let thy oxen's dung be sugar to thy dying jews o poland o sweet resourceful restless poland o poland of the saints unbuttoned poland repeating endlessly the triple names of mary poland poland poland poland poland have we not tired of thee poland no for thy cheeses shall never tire us nor the honey of thy goats thy grooms shall work ferociously upon their looming brides shall bring forth executioners shall stand like kings inside thy doorways shall throw their arms around thy lintels poland & begin to crow

ABOUT POEMS AND POETICS: In this age of internet and blog the possibility opens of a free circulation of works (poems and poetics in the present instance) outside of any commercial or academic nexus. I will therefore be posting work of my own, both new & old, that may otherwise be difficult or impossible to access, and I will also, from time to time, post work by others who have been close to me, in the manner of a freewheeling on-line anthology or magazine. I take this to be in the tradition of autonomous publication by poets, going back to Blake and Whitman and Dickinson, among numerous others.

Technicians of the Sacred, August 2017Expanded Fiftieth Anniversary EditionUniversity of California Press

* The index below is organized chronoloigally, starting with a post from May 20, 2012, when Poems and Poetics first appeared in Jacket2. Earlier posts in the series, going back to 2008, may be found at Poems and Poetics.